Runaway
by olivia stevens
Summary: “Sortiur.. you? My brother?” The curved blade went through the king’s chest, freezing his face in that state of shock forever. The dagger’s owner pulled it out, letting the royal couple’s blood drip on the floor.. (an: this is NOT jon and tha
1. In the Streets of Tyra

[Disclaimer: I am not Tamora Pierce. I do not own anything which is Tamora Pierce's. Which means that I do not own Tortall, Tyra, Tusaine, Neal L (or anything else mentioned in Tammy's books. So don't ask.]  
  


A dirty-looking girl in a threadbare tunic, which might have once been peach-colored, rounded the corner. She had long, dark matted hair, which obscured her face, as well as most of her slight figure. Not exactly a strange sight in the dirty, crowded streets of Tyra…

Suddenly, a group of horses galloped down the seat, scattering people right and left. Most stayed in the open and stared at these well-dressed men riding through one of the slummiest neighborhoods of the city, but the girl quickly ran behind a empty bin and hid herself. She held tense as the horsemen galloped through, their steeds pounding the ground with such force that it felt it shook. 

When she was sure they were gone, she allowed herself to relax, tears of exhaustion and frustration coming to her eyes. She had run from them so long. She had hoped to find a refuge in Tyra, but, as she sat, the King's men were combing the city. She would not be safe here. Sadly, and almost fatalistically, she picked up her very small bag of possesions and automatically looked glanced westward. 

Only a few miles from here, right across the border, was Tortall. She had heard that it was a good land, with wise and just rulers. Then West she would go. 

West to Tortall. 

West to freedom.  
  
[Yes, very short, I know, so please tell me what you think, and whether it is worth me even continuing this story or not. This story depends on all of you peoples out there!!! Also, any plot ideas. I just thought this up last night, and I'm not exactly sure where it's going to go yet. L  
  
~Eara  
  
PS: and if anyone knows how to keep this from running all together, could they please tell me?]


	2. The Farmhouse

**A/N:  I wasn't planning on writing more, but here you go… hope you enjoy!  YAY!!! Finally got the damn  spacing fixed!!!!**

"Runaway"

by:  Lady Emmi   (I changed it!)

Chapter 2 – the farmhouse

_"Sortiur.. you? My _brother_?"  The curved blade went through the king's chest, freezing his face in that state of shock forever.  The dagger's owner pulled it out, letting the royal couple's blood drip on the floor.._

_"That, my dear king, is what happens to fools and idiots.  And you were both."  The duke's sneer was clear on his face._

_Behind the curtain which separated the Throne Room from the Main Hall, a pair of eyes widened in shock._

_"And now for their little girl…"_

_The girl behind the curtains gasped.  They were coming for her!_

_Sortiur listened intently.  "Right behind those curtains.  Quickly now!"  he told his servant in a low voice._

Run_, she thought, _RUN!!! _But her legs would not move.  They were coming…  They opened the curtain…_

_"There she is!"_

_The girl flew off, legs pumping as fast as she could go.  _To the kitchens…

_"Get her!"  The dagger hit the wall next to her, cutting the inside of her arm as it flew.  A voice swore behind her._

_She was on the other side of the curtain now… But she could not go to the kitchens, what if the servants had turned on them as well?  There was no way to know…_

_She made a turn, ran up a dark corridor, and hid behind a flight of stairs.  Sortiur and his minion, ran right up them…_

_"I'd swear she went this way…" she heard him mutter._

_Once he was out of sight, she ran out the other way.  But where to go now?_

_She must get out._

_She must run away._

_She ran down to the castle gate…  _What if the guards were against her too?  _But no… they let her out, clearly puzzled where she was going.  Well, they would find out soon enough…_

_She ran.  She ran as fast as she could, toward the forest…  She ran until…_

She tripped out of the covers, falling out of bed.

"Angie?  You all right?"

"Yes… I am… It was just a nightmare…" She looked at the scar on her arm, where the knife had hit her, and rubbed it nervously.  It had seemed so real… just like she was reliving it…

"Maybe you want to tell me how you got that scar."

"Maybe I don't," she snapped back.

"Fine then, be that way."  He walked out of the room.

Immediately, she regretted getting angry with him.  Harry had always been her favorite of the Plowman's…  ever since that night when she had come to their doorstep… hungry, weak, and at the end of her tether…

She thought about apologizing and decided against it.  Harry would probably just laugh at her for the rest of the week, like he usually did when she apologized for for what he called "stupid things".

She sighed.  Some times she loved Harry for the person he was, and other times hated him for being so _exasperating_.   Somehow they managed to be best friends, an unusual feat for a young man and young woman of that day.

The sun was coming up and another day at the farm was about to begin.  Seeing no reason to delay, she got dressed.  Belatedly she realized that she had planned to wash her dirty clothes today and had left them in the main room of the house.  Nevermind, she still had her…

At the the bottom of the small pile of her clothing lay the once-peach-colored tunic which brought back so many memories.  She did not want to wear that, but…

She pulled out a threadbare white shift to wear underneath.  Though it was spring the days were still a bit cold.  Not that it ever got too cold in the town of Legann.  Not like winters in Tusaine.   She shivered involuntarily.  Now _that_ was cold…

She stepped outside and started her days chores.   As she worked, Harry told her a funny story of the fish that they had almost bought yesterday which turned out to be more than two weeks old.

_I'm so happy here_, she thought to herself.  _I don't ever want to leave…_

Suddenly, her dream came back to her.  _But I have runaway from them… for good…   I don't have to worry about that anymore.  At least I_ hope _I don't have to worry about that anymore..._

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Night fell on the farmhouse.  The Plowman family gathered in the main room of the small cottage.

There was Wat.  He was the oldest, and the sole heir of Lynch Plowman.  Next came Orim.  Slow, but strong, Orim was not expected to do more in life than to perhaps help his brother out on the farm.

And now for Troy.  Troy was the scholar, or so he considered himself.  He was gifted, rather well so, and seemed to think this made him a step above everyone else.  He was saving up his coppers and nobles, as he hoped to attend the University in Carthak in the coming years.

Teagan, the youngest, was not present.  Perhaps watching the sheep, it was nearing birthing time…

And Harry.  She smiled at him as he came through the door.  Harry the odd one out.  Nothing too special about him.  He was not particularly smart, like Teagan, notable, like Wat, strong, like Orim, or handsome, like Teagan.  But he was her best friend and that put him above the rest.  Right now, he looked absolutely exhausted from the day in the fields…

Lastly, came Lynch Plowman,  father and head of the house, and his wife, Evelyn.  She owed much to them and was very grateful for all they had done to her.

Lynch bolted the door behind him, to protect them from attacks of bandits or animals, and the family assembled and started talking about their day.

"Three strips done, a good days work…"

She smiled.  After living three years with them, she felt perfectly at home with this family, a feeling which she wanted to keep.  She yawned…

"I'm going to bed now…" said Wat.

The rest of the family did the same, and she retired her small cot in the corner of the pantry.  She fell asleep immediately.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_She was in the same dream as the night before, except this time it seemed more vivid, more life-like…  She watched Sortiur kill her parents, cut her with his dagger, and now she was running… again…_

She woke up, breathing hard.  Was this an omen?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The day was dreary and grey.  It threatened to rain, but never did.   Mostly she stayed inside, sewed, knitted, and churned butter.   The work made her arms hurt.  Fortunately, she could trade off with Evelyn every few minutes or so.

She felt like she spent the whole day glaring at the sky.  Why couldn't the weather get good?   When night fell, she greeted it with mixed feelings.  She was tired, but she did not really want to face another nightmare.  Still, it was the third night, and she had a feeling that something would finally come of it, whether for good or worse…

She fell asleep immediately and instantly the nightmare played before her…

_She was running again, from the Duke, out of the castle now… The dream was almost over…_

_Then… time slowed… and came to a complete halt.  A beautiful woman stood before her, so beautiful she did not seem quite real.  She was tall, taller than most men.  Her ebony hair fell down her back in perfect ringlets.  Behind her sheer veil, she could see high cheekbones, and startling green eyes…_

_"Good day my daughter."  Her voice was husky and soft, like wind blowing through the treetops, while still reminding her of dogs baying at the hunt.  "We meet again."_

**A/N:  Thanks to all the great ppl who reviewed!  Because I absolutely love it when ppl reply to MY reviews, I am replying to yours!  (*nudge nudge, wink wink*)**

**nikia-mysticQUEENofFIRE -  Thank you, thank you!  Request granted!**

**PsychoLioness 13-  The story is set about 600 years before SOTL…  A more interesting time, I think, and I also don't have to try to make it fit in with the books….  ****J**

**FortuneCookie-  Why thank you!**

**Someone Else-  erm… good point, but I don't want to be posting stuff up here if I might as well be talking to a brick wall…**


	3. The Goddess' Smile

**Disclaimer:  No, I do not own.** **A/N:  *sigh*  and after that incredibly boring setback chapter on the farmhouse, which took me forever to write but was necessary to catch up, I now present you with an incrediby short chapter which I wrote in a very short span of time.  Hopefully, it should answer a lot of questions…**

**Yes! Now I have a plot!  I was thinking about it last night while getting high on coffee.  It has a very interesting, almost scary, twist…  I like it a lot…  ****J****  And now I know what I'm going to do… for the first few chappies at least, which is quite a feat, considering I started this story with no plot in mind whatsoever…  Yes, thank you…  *bows***

**Yes, and thank you to White-wolf2, my lovely reviewer, I will certainly try to fit that in the summary…**

Runaway 

By: Lady Emmi

"The Goddess' Smile"

_She pinched hersef to make sure she wasn't dreaming._  Sure enough, her surroundings faded away into the walls of the pantry.  She blinked.  The woman was still there.

"It's not day," she told her stupidly.

"It is always day where I am, the woman replied simply.

"Who are you anyways?"  She was probablly being rude, but she did not care.

The woman smiled down on her.  "Think…  think far back… you have seem me twice, during your short life… Now do you remember me?"

She was about to inform her that sixteen years was _not_ a short time to live when suddenly… she remembered…

"Goddess…" she breathed.

"Correct, Caradhriel Ethuìn."

"You were there at the forest when I was running away, and… and, when I was born…  Wait, you said my name?"

The goddess smiled again.  "I see you have not forgotten who you really are."

"Well that's good."  She yawned.  "And if you'll exuse me, Goddess, I'm really tired, and I have to go to sleep otherwise I won't be worth nothing tomorrow."

Sudden awareness and vitality flooded her veins.  "Anything, not nothing.  Have you forgotten your grammar lessons so quickly?"

"Wha- no…  What did you come here for?"  Somehow, she did not think it was for grammar lessons.

"Caradhriel, your destiny calls.  You are the daughter of the line of Ethuìn, the rightful rulers of Tusaine!  Will you _really_ give that up so easily?"

"No… but I don't want to go back… I _can't_…"

"CARADHRIEL LISTEN TO ME."  The godess' voice boome threateningly.  "YOU MUST FREE TUSAINE FROM THE YOKE OF YOUR UNCLE.  LEAVE YOUR ANONMITY BEHIND AND TAKE YOUR PLACE AS QUEEN!"

"I- I will…"  she stuttered.  "What must I do?"

"Leave this household.  Now."

She gulped.  "Won't they here me?" she asked hopefully.  She winced.  As soon as she uttered it, she knew it was stupid.

The goddess' smile was her only answer.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Two hours later, Caradriel trudged along the empty road.  To her left the sun was rising.  She stopped, to admire its beauty.

_I'm running away,_ she thought.  _Yet again, I'm running away…_

Furiously, she swiped away a tear.  This was no time for weakness!  _I'm stronger than this,_ she told herself.  By the Goddess, she hoped she was…

**My ego needs a boost.  Just press that beautiful blue button at the bottom of the page!  I know you can do it!**


	4. Old Enemies

"Quiet!  She's asleep and we want to keep her that way!"

Someone had bound her wrists.  She barely constrained herself from trying to look who it was.  Somehow, she figured that she would get a better idea of what was happening to her…

The men placed her in a wagon.  She struggled with her bonds a bit, trying not to move too much.  A pull here and a push there, that was all.  Easy did it.

This was not her first time being captured, though she hoped it would be her last.  Unless she was very mistaken, these men were bandits, judging from the sounds they made as rifled through her sack of belongings.  Fortunately, she had nothing valuable in there.  Also, they sounded like commoners, commoners whom hard luck and scarce food had pushed to outlawship.

"Do you think…" whispered someone nearby, "that she could be the one that they were looking for?

They?  She did not like the sound of that.  In fact, she thought she was getting a pretty good idea of who "they" were, and she did not like it, not one bit.

"Could be.  She fits the description."

"We should take her to him anyways.  There's a huge reward on her if she's the one."

She smiled to herself.  Obviously, these bandits had no leader.  Easier for her.  But she had better make her escape before they got to "they".

Slowly, she inched her eyes open.  She could not see anything.  For a panicked second she thought that she had gone blind.

_No you idiot,_ she thought to herself, _it's a blindfold, of course!_  Sure enough, when she inched the piece of cloth down, a gleam of light shone through.

Now, her planned escape would be a lot harder.  The bandits would surely see if she slipped her blindfold off.   She increased her efforts on the rope binding her wrists, hoping no one noticed that she was wriggling slightly.

Luck was against her.

"I think our little prize has woken up," joked one of the bandits.

Something hit her head, and then all she knew was blackness.

********************************************************************************

She awoke again, and immediately wished she had not.  Her head hurt badly, and the rest of her body throbbed.  Light flooded her eyes, temporarily blinding her.  _At least I'm not blindfolded anymore,_ she thought.

Now for the ropes on her hands.  Her heard a clicking sound, and realized with a wave of sickness that instead of rope, her hands were bound with hard iron manacles.

Someone was coming.  Quickly, she pretended to still be knocked out.

A tall figure entered the tent.  She knew of his height by the shadow that the late evening sun cast upon her.  A sharp kick connected with her leg, making her jump.

"I knew you were faking,"  he said smugly, smiling coldly.

She gasped.  She _knew_ that voice.

"Recognition, Cara my dear?"  The smile grew, if you could really call it one.  Cara took a closer look at her captor.   He was dressed completely in black, and from bitter experience, she knew that a shirt of chain mail hung beneath his leather tunic.

"The name is Caradhriel,"  she spat back.  "_Princess_ Caradhriel to you."

"Fiesty, like always…  I had hoped that you had lost some of that unfortunate fault."

"Fools hope foolish dreams."  This man was really scaring her, but she wouldn't let him see that.

"Aye.  But I swear you'll warm up to me in time.  You know, Sortiur has promised you to me after were all finished here."  He sat back and smiled to watch the effect of his statement.

"A worthy servant you are," she spat.

"Oh, only when it benefits yours truly.  Which it does, quite generously.  I won't always be around to carry out his every command."

"What do you _want_!"  she snapped.

"Too bring you back to Sortiur alive and kicking.  Which you will, quite willingly, once you've heard my terms."

"Do I actually have a choice?"

"No, and that's the beauty of it.  You don't get a choice.  And I get to watch you suffer."

She glared at him.

"But you'll be wanting to know the terms," he said.  "If you behave, you're left alone.  If you don't you're passed around the men."

"What if I don't agree on them?"  she asked, barely able to keep her voice from shaking.

"As I said before, you really don't have a choice.  And if you'll excuse me, _your majesty_," he leered, "I have better things to do than to engage in idle chitchat with you."  He turned to leave the tent.

She jumped at him, trying to get her manacles around his neck. He evaded her easily.

"Beautiful things, those are,"  he commented, nodding toward her chains.  "Can't be picked, can't be broken, only can be unlocked by its key."  He exited the tent, and turned around to jeer through the flap,  "have fun, my lady."

As soon as he was out of hearing distance, she collapsed.  She had been lucky last time, she would not escape again.  Silently, she resigned herself to a life of misery.

She noticed that it had become dark, sometime between her musings of different escape plans. Someone brought her a bowl of gruel and a cup of water.  She finished them in five seconds flat, and pushed them back into the surprised man's arms.

She was about to fall asleep, when…

"Angie, are you in there?"

A/N:  Again, a cliffie…. Hopefully that chappie was better than the last one…  Well don't just stare, press that beautiful blue button at the bottom of the page!

**~to my reviewers~**

**PurpleSakura-  yeah… I know…  one of these days I might fix it… ;)**

**LadySabrina-  I'm updating!**

**Miliko01-  ok, ok, is this good enough for you?**

**Whitewolf-  thank you!**

**Queerquail-  of course summary is an art!  You probably wouldn't be saying that if you saw the previous summary, though… *winces***


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